Chiming guitars are in full flower here, folks. The music of R.E. Seraphin makes up the perfect soundtrack to summer. The material is redolent with hints of Paisley Underground stuff from this side of the Atlantic, and hints of a dozen bands who bloomed in the wake of the C86 tape in the U.K. back then too. The new EP is called A Room Forever and the album's called Tiny Shapes and both are full of the sort of delights that are hard to ignore.
"Exploding Head" and "Today Will Be Kind" set things in the right direction on Tiny Shapes. These cuts, and nearly every other one here, positively ring with promise. This is more power pop than neo-psychedelia, so, as others have noted, an apt point of comparison would be Game Theory. That band blended ringing chords with big hooks over and over again, and stuff here, like "Bend" and "I'd Rather Be Your Enemy" do seem in debt to the late Scott Miller's band. Elsewhere, "Fortuna" slows things down enough to allow listeners to really appreciate the guitar-textures rippling behind the vocals on this one, while "Pillar of Shame" closes things in a style not entirely unlike certain Robert Forster-penned numbers from The Go-Betweens in the mid-Eighties. R.E. Seraphin has so many ideas sprinkled through Tiny Shapes that a listener almost gets overwhelmed (in a good way) with the treasures being revealed.
The newest EP, A Room Forever, dropped on June 15. This one is a set of six numbers that even seem even sharper than those on Tiny Shapes. "Clock Without Hands" offers up chiming alt-rock that recalls early R.E.M., The Church, and even Wire Train. It's a great cut, and one of many fine ones here. Elsewhere, "Lost in Space" is nicely modulated between moody verses, and a ringing chorus. If the songs on Tiny Shapes seemed lo-fi in the way that Elf Power, Apples in Stereo, and GBV were lo-fi, those on A Room Forever seem a tiny bit sharper, and more focused. Still, any piece of either is fantastic, and highly recommended, so don't let my nerdy dissection of this indie-pop rob it of any of its riches at all.
Tiny Shapes and A Room Forever are out now via Paisley Shirt Records.
More details on R.E. Seraphin via the Paisley Shirt Records Facebook page.
[Photo: R.E. Seraphin]